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Last month we were proud to announce awards for the Value-Added Producer Grants program. Managed by USDA’s Rural Development, this program has had nearly a decade of success in helping producers capture more value for their agricultural products by producing, processing, or marketing their product...

Written by Rayne Pegg, Administrator, Agricultural Marketing Service The Secretary of Agriculture has officially declared August 1-7 2010 as National Farmers Market Week. National Farmers Market Week is an opportunity to celebrate the thriving farmers markets in your community. It’s a time to...

By Amanda Eamich, Director of Web Communications The Apps for Healthy Kids polls are open with 95 games and apps waiting for you to test and play. We’re thrilled with your interest thus far with almost 5,000 votes cast in the first week.

Last week I joined Governor O’Malley and Maryland Secretary of Agriculture Buddy Hance for a cook-out at the Governor’s House in Annapolis, Maryland. What a blast! Along with 300 other guests, I sampled wonderful local foods prepared by 19 farmer-chef teams who were the winners in a state-wide...

By Dr. Janey Thornton, USDA Deputy Under Secretary for Food, Nutrition, and Consumer Services Recently I spent a wonderful day touring California’s Salinas and Pajaro Valleys. My gracious host, Congressman Sam Farr, and I started with the most important meal of the day: breakfast. We visited Rancho...

Anyone who has shopped at a farmers market can appreciate the freshness of the food, the interaction with farmers, and the opportunity to learn how the food was produced. As an economist with the USDA’s Economic Research Service (ERS), I’m also interested in what local food systems look like in the...

Written by Beth Grabau, Public Affairs Specialist, Iowa State FSA The Woodbury and Monona Count Farm Service Agency Service Centers in Iowa welcomed an unexpected guest on Tuesday as Christie Vilsack — wife of Agriculture Secretary Tom Vilsack — stopped by for a visit. “It was a real privilege to...

By Under Secretary Kevin Concannon, Food, Nutrition and Consumer Services It is so important to ensure children get enough to eat, especially during summer months when school is out and access to school meals is unavailable. And that’s why bridging the summer food gap is a high priority at USDA.

By Lori Duff, ARRA Public Affairs Specialist VT/NH Construction is just beginning on the new Food Venture Center 2, a non-profit kitchen incubator for specialty food producers in Hardwick, Vermont – and Wednesday nearly 50 people, including Sen. Patrick Leahy and USDA Rural Development VT/NH State...

Where does your food come from and how does it get to your plate? For many Americans this is a question that is becoming more and more difficult to answer as they become further removed from the farm and less connected to agriculture. The hard work that goes into producing our nation’s food supply...